Teach Soap

Greetings! Can I tell each and every one of you how grateful I am to have found you? I've wanted to make my own CP soap for years but one thing or another always interfered. A couple weeks ago I decided to get serious about it and I've spent most of that time reading almost the entire CP board. Yes, all 99 pages and most of the posts on those 99 pages. This forum is better than any book I've read on the topic, and it's a joy to see so many people progress from my own newbie status to making beautiful and extraordinary soaps. Soapbuddy, I bow down to you. I'm certain that by reading the advice you've graciously given to so many for so long has prevented a major disaster in my kitchen so far. No doubt I've just cursed myself by saying that.

Made my first 2# test batch a few days ago while waiting for my BB order. I used locally available ingredients and ran it through soapcalc:

OO pomace 40%
CO 20%
Crisco 40%
Full water, 38%
SF 7%
Soaped at about 95 for both oils and lye. Glad I have a good idea of how long that takes, and how fast they cool down in a water bath!

I had my assembly line set up and did a couple dry runs before I got out any oil. You should have seen me shaking when I opened the lye. No problem getting to trace in about 5 minutes with my trusty SB, and I made close observations and stopped a few times so I'd know the difference between emulsion and trace. Anyone else out there cheer like it was the Super Bowl when you hit trace?

Just because I can't stand to do anything the easy way, I divided the batch and colored half with turmeric and half with paprika and 2 tsp. each. Hey, it was handy. Hmmm... my soap looked like it had the measles for the first couple of days. Now you can hardly see the color difference and it's all going a lovely shade of poo. I also grabbed the last of the Hobby Lobby MP fragrances and did half ginger and half patchouli. I think it's wretched but the hubs is in love with it and can't wait to use it. No accounting for taste. He'll probably love all the little scrubbies in it too since he can't find a back brush made of wire.

It was still a bit soft when I unmolded it a couple days later, so I let it be (sigh) for another day before cutting. Next purchase: a mitre box. I can't cut a straight line to save my life. Meanwhile, it developed a slight case of ash to go with the measles. Can you say, "Rustic?" I have no problem waiting six weeks for this one to cure. Maybe eight or ten weeks. Maybe it'll just go into a dark closet and be forgotten. It's still fairly soft, and I'm wondering if a slight water discount would have helped that?

My BB order arrived today, and do you think I wasted one minute putting it to good use? Of course not! For my second 2# mad scientist experiment:

OO 40%
Crisco 35%
Castor 5%
CO 20%
SF 7%
Discounted water to 35%
Soaped at 115
Sodium Lactate 2 tsp to cooled lye water
Champagne FO 1 oz and Bergamot EO 1 oz (remembered to add to oils at the last minute)

This time I just went for it. Mardi Gras is coming up, right?! Got a nice emulsion, divided into three parts and played with my new sample set of oxides: yellow, green and violet with a few more grains of ultramarine blue in attempt at a deep purple. Laid down a solid layer of yellow and drop swirled the green and purple. Used a spatula to lay on another layer of yellow and drop swirled another round of green and purple, but held it closer to the mold. Drizzled a bit of all colors on the top and swirled about 1/4" deep with a skewer and into the oven with it at 170 for one hour. Naturally I checked it every five minutes for overheating. Did I think about needing my oven later? Of course not. OK, out of the oven and into a nice warm spa towel wrap. Here's the soap when it got removed from the oven:



I think it's OK but I really am not sure if it all gelled. I also noticed what seem to be either air or oil bubbles on the surface, so I hosed it down with a dose of 91% alcohol before insulating. Hopefully this one won't present with a bunch of ash.

So, with the SL and (hopefully) gelling, can I try to unmold in 24 hours? Sorry about the book. It's a fault. I love words. Words are cool.

Welcome JennyBee!
The colors and fragrances from the craft store are not made for cold process soap. They are specifically made for MP soap and can do some strange things in CP like morph or fade. Turmeric and paprika can be scrubby unless you strain them first.
Congrats on your batch! You've been assimilated!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I know what you mean I have been making so much soap that my husband said I better sell some. Which is not a problem I had everyone at work trying different types to see which one feels the best I am now trying different types of oxides, Micas, and glitter. I am learning so much from the soap blog and thought what fun to have a soap club. I love to experiment. In fact I made my first hot process soap but ism not sure it is correct it smells great I used BB almond and another sensational sandlewood how wonderful they were to use.i too wanted to make soap and when I finally did I was a mess. My husband thought I was going to blow up the kitchen or worse, but I did it and I was hooked my skin is not dry and itchy and I am enjoying making soap and facials and sugar scrubs. Best of luck

Welcome! Your soap looks great! Love your Mardi Gras theme. Be sure to post pics once you slice it, I bet it'll be very pretty!

Thanks for the welcome! Soapbuddy, I knew craft store fragrances were verboten, but I figured my first batch would be a disaster so I just HAD to go through the motions of adding fragrance. Since I learn by doing, just the act of putting it in might help cement it in my head for future batches. Maybe?! Yeah, I missed the part about straining out the turmeric and paprika until AFTER I made the soap. Lesson learned! I bet the Hubs will love it though. I'm surprised he doesn't shower with an SOS pad.

Rnscare4u2 - I was shaking like a leaf nearly the whole way through my first batch and very glad I waited until I had the house to myself to do it. Had he been around critiquing my every move, he would have been wearing it.

goodcleanfun - thank you so much for the kind words. I've been dreaming about a Mardi Gras soap since I put in my BB order. How crazy is that?! I'm skeert to think that, as nice as it looks on the outside, it may be a big fat gray mess on the inside. Oh, the wait! The wait!

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Jennifer
Doing my best to blow up my kitchen. In style!

Your mardi gras soap looks lovely! Congratulations!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Welcome to the addiction JennyBee! The purple in your Mardi Gras soap looks great, please post cut pictures!

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

As requested, here are some pics. Here are a few bars from my first batch. Guess what I'm naming it?



Here's the cut Mardi Gras soap. I probably should have done some extra swirling with a chopstick or something, but I really wanted to see what just a plain drop looks like. Not entirely happy with the purple, but I know it's a difficult color to do so I'll take it for my first attempt. I'm very happy with the yellow/gold and green. Other than a couple small air bubbles, I'm really pretty happy with this one overall and I learned a lot in the process. It smells wonderful and although I wasn't totally sold on the Champagne FO, it's maturing into something very nice and light. Pardon my amateurish attempt at photography. That's DH's hobby. I readily admit I suck at it.

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Jennifer
Doing my best to blow up my kitchen. In style!